Jackson Wooldridge, 16, was referred to the program by a teacher after he stopped attending classes because of a sudden death in the family.

"Last year I had a loved uncle … and he sadly passed away, and I couldn't deal with that," he said.

"I couldn't deal with being around people and all that, so I just stayed home.

"I just couldn't be bothered going, just too tired."

After the teenagers were identified, they started work with a youth worker and a police officer in their area, while TasTafe provided vocational education.

Launceston's Constable David Simpson said the program played a significant role in helping the participants identify a better pathway to adulthood.

"We don't expect miracles, we don't expect them to be halfway down the road to recovery, but we are looking for somebody that recognises that change is needed," he said.

"Some of the relationships that these young people have had with police in the past haven't always been great for one reason or another.

"This is an opportunity for them to get to know a police officer — in this case it's myself — to see that not just that we're human, but to recognise that we genuinely want to keep young people out of the court system.

"At this point in time I think we're just having a hiatus for six months and hopefully within that period of time the right funding will come through to see it continue from January onwards in 2019," he said.

"It's a shame to see things get to [this] point.

"We feel like we're doing our job very well. The staff have taken the last 12 to 18 months to get really good at what they do.

We've got these really good relationships, really good stakeholder networks and they've all said they're really, really committed to seeing this continue in the future if we can get the funding, so hopefully all of that hard work won't go to waste."

Mr McIvor said he hoped the project could lobby the State Government and community groups to fund the early-intervention initiative into the future.